Tube-severing mechanism



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July 30, 1946. A, F, @153 TUBE-SEVERING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 25, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 30, 1946. A. F. was

' TUBE-SEVERING MECHANISM Filed. Au 25, 1942 s Sheets-Sheet 2 is 16 k Patented July 30, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TUBE- SEVEREN G MECHANISM Anthony F. Cibs, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, assignor to Chase Brass & Copper 00. Incorporated, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation Application August 25, 1942, Serial No. 456,017

1 Claim. (Cl. 164*47) l 2 The. present; invention relates to improvements Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the movable cutin cutting mechanisms and. relates more particter-holder together with its tubular outer cutularly to improvements in mechanisms for trans ter; versely severing tubes into desired lengths. The Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the movable inpresent invention, while not so limited, is espeher-cutter looking mainly toward the outer end cially Well suited for producing rotating-bands thereof;

for artillery projectiles from copper or the like. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the stationary One of the objects of the present invention is outer-cutter, detached;

to provide a superior tube-severing mechanism Fig. 9 is a broken perspective view of the inner which will effectively transversely sever a tube 10 end of the stationary inner-cutter, detached;

without materially distorting the same. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the movable in- Another object of the present invention is to her-cutter, detached;

provide amechanism of the character referred to Fig. 11 is a perspective View Of the movable which will effectively sever tubes into desired outer-cutter, detached; lengths Without creating appreciable chips or Fig. 12 is a broken perspective view of a length other Waste material. of tube;

A further object of the present invention is to g. 13 s a perspective view of a r 01111 from provide a superior tube-severing mechanism a tube by the mechanism of the preceding figwhich will transversely sever a tube so cleanly ures; and as to minimize the need for a subsequent open Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the strippingation. plunger, detached.

Still another object of the present invention is The particular tube-severing mechanism shown to provide a superior tube-severing mechanism in the accompanying drawings for purposes of which will rapidly and effectively transversely illustrating one form of the present invention, sever a tube without creating appreciable waste includes a stationary tubular outer-cutter l5, a material and without material distortion of the stationary rod-like inner-cutter $6, a movable product. tubular outer-cutter H and a movable rod-like With the above and other objects in view, as inner-cutter 18. will appear to those skilled in the art from the The stationary outer-cutter i5 is preferably present disclosure, this invention includes all formed of high-grade steel and is of tubular features in the said disclosure which are novel form with its interior and exterior both cylinover the prior art. drically contoured. The said stationary outer- In the accompanying drawings, in which con. cutter i5 has the entire annular edge at the tain modes of carrying out the present invention junction of its inner perimeter and its inner face are shown for illustrative purposes: sharpened, though it is substantially only the Fig. 1 is a broken view partly in side elevalower semicircle which acts as a cutting-edge l9 tion and partly in vertical central-longitudinal having an extent substantially corresponding to section of one form of tube-severing mechanism the portion embraced by the bracket 26 in Fig. constructed in accordance with the present in- 8. While, as just noted, it is only the lower half vention, and with the parts in the positions which 10 of the edge of the inner portion of the stationary they assume immediately prior to the tube-cutouter-cutter I? which functions as a cutting-edge, ting operation; nevertheless, for simplicity and economy of con- Fig. 2 is a view in vertical central-longitudinal struction, the said outer-cutter is preferably in section of the mechanism at the right of Fig. the form of a tube, as shown, and its interior is 1 but on a larger scale and with the parts in the sized and proportoined to have a snug sliding fit same positions as in Fig. l around the periphery of a tube 2| constituting Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2 but the blank from the inner end of which is to be showing the parts in the positions which they successively cut short lengths to provide rings assume immediately following the completion of such as the ring 22 shown in Figs. 3 and 13. the tube-severing operation; 7.1) The rod-like inner-cutter I8 is designated as Fig. 4 is a view partly in plan but mainly a the stationary inner-cutter for the reason that it, horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 like the outer-cutter 55, has no lateral movement of Fig.2; during the cutting operation, though it is mov- Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on able axially for purposes of installing a fresh tube the line 5-5 of Fig.2; thereon, such as 2!, as will more fully hereinhas an extent of substantially a semicircle as defined within substantially the limits of the bracket 24 indicated in Fig. 9. The tubular stationary outer-cutter I is rigidly mounted in a cutter-holder or block 25 supported on a baseplate 26 and connected to a framework 21 of any suitable type.

As will be noted by reference to Fig. 1, the stationary inner-cutter 16 is relatively quite long and has its outer end releasably mounted in an anchoring-head 28 so as to be held against both lateral and axial movement under normal operating conditions. The said anchoring-head is, in turn, coupled in any suitable manner to the outer end of the framework 2?, which latter also supports a tube-feeding head 29 (Fig. 1) having the mandrel-like inner-cutter 16 extended therethrough and having capacity for sliding movement in a direction parallel with the longitudinal axis of the cutter 16. The tube-feeding head 29 is provided with a pivotal dog 33 having a nose 3| adapted to be released from and entered into the gaps in a tube-feeding chain 32 of conventional roller-chain type.

Returning now to the movable outer-cutter ll, it will be noted that the said cutter is rigidly mounted in a movable cutter-holder or block 33 having its inner or left face in sliding engagement with the inner or right face of the stationary cutter-holder 25 before referred to, as is especially well shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. At each of its respective opposite sides, the right or outer face of the cutter-holder 33 has sliding engagement with and is guided by two laterallyspaced-apart spacing-blocks 34-44 suitably secured to the framework 21. The respective outer or right edges of the spacing-blocks 34-3 (Fig. 4) are seated against the left face of a blockllke crosshead 35 also rigidly secured to the framework 27. The said crosshead 35 is formed in its inner or left face with a vertical groove 36 in which is mounted a cam-plate 31 having in its left face an advance-dwell 38 extending perpendicularly with respect to the axis of the tube 2! and a similarly-extending retirement-dwell 39 displaced to the right with respect to the ad- Vance-dwell 33 and connected thereto by an inclined surface 43. The cam-plate 3'! is adjustable in the groove 33 of the crosshead 35 by means of a plurality of horizontal set-screws l! mounted in the outer portion of the said crosshead.

The movable inner-cutter [8 before referred to is provided at its outer or right end with a camhead 42 having a portion extending into and vertically sliding in the groove 38 in the crosshead 35 and shaped for sliding engagement with the surfaces 38, 39 and All of the cam-plate 3'! located in the said groove. The cylindricallycontoured body-portion of the said movable inner-cutter [3 corresponds in size to the normallystationary inner-cutter l6 and hence corresponds in size to the interior diameter of the tube 2!. The inner lower corner of the inner-cutter I8 constitutes a cuttingedge 43 having a transverse 4 extent substantially corresponding to the portion embraced by the bracket 44 in Fig. 10.

The inner portion of the movable inner-cutter i3 is surrounded by an axially-adjustable gaugesleeve 45 having its inner edge spaced outwardly from the inner face of the cutter 8 a distance corresponding to the desired width of the ring 22 to be produced. The said gauge-sleeve 45 is axially adjustable by means of an adjusting-nut l6 threaded into the outer portion of the movable cutter-holder or block 33. Bearing against the outer face of'the adjusting-nut to is the inner end of a helical cutter-retiring spring 41 which has its outer end bearing against the inner face of the cam-head 42 of the inner-cutter i8. As thus arranged. the cutter-retiring spring 41 serves to yieldingly urge the entire movable inner-cutter 18 axially outwardly away from the stationary inner-cutter it.

The movable outer-cutter if has an internal diameter corresponding to the internal diameter of the stationary outer-cutter [5 with respect to which it is in end-to-end relationship and receives in its interior the gauge-sleeve 35, which latter substantially corresponds in thickness to the thickness of the tube 2 I. The corner formed at the junction of the upper portion of the inner face of the cutter H and the upper portion of its inner perimeter constitutes a cutting-edge 48 of a lateral extent substantially corresponding to that embraced by the bracket 49 in Fig. 11. The lower inner portion of the movable outer-cutter H is cut away to a depth slightly exceeding the width of the ring 22 to provide a clearance-notch 50 forming a vertical continuation of a clearance-notch 5| formed in the inner face of the vertically-movable cutter-holder 33, all for purposes as will hereinafter appear.

The vertically-movable cutter-holder 33 before described is yieldingly urged upwardly to normally maintain its cutters l1 and I3 in axial alignment with the stationary cutters l5 and [5, by means of a plurality of verticallyreciprocat ing plungers 52 extending upwardly through and guided in the base-plate 26. The lower ends of the plungers 52 are mounted in a plunger-plate 53 located beneath the base-plate 26 and sliding upon a vertical stud 54 anchored at its upper end in the said base-plate 26. Encircling the stud 54 at a point below the plunger-plate 53 is a helical return-spring 55 thrusting at its upper end against the underside of the plungerplate 53 and resting at its lower end upon a disklike spring-seat 56 secured to the lower end of the stud 54 by means of one or more nuts 51, as is shown in Fig. 1.

As thus constructed and arranged, the returnspring 55 and associated parts serve to normally maintain the movable cutter-holder 33 in its uppermost position, in; which the outer and inner movable-cutters I! and 18 are in precise axial alignment with the normally-stationary outerand inner-cutters l5 and IS. The upward movement of the cutter-holder 33, and hence of the parts carried thereby, is limited by the engagement of upper portions of the said holder with adjacent portions of the framework 21.

Below its cutters l5 and 16, the stationary cutter-holder or block 25 is formed in its inner face with a cylindrically-contoured recess 58, from the end wall of which leads an eccentricallylocated cylindrically-contoured recess 59 of relatively-smaller diameter than the recess 58. Leading to the left from the end wall of the recess 59 to the left side of the cutter-holder 25,

is a passage 60 smaller-in diameter than the recess 59 and arranged concentrically therewith.

In the relatively-large-diametered recess 58 there is located the cylindrically-contoured head 6| of a reciprocating stripping-plunger B2. The said head 6! has a downwardlv-and-inwardlysloping inner face and has a diameter only slightly less than the internal diameter of the ring 22 before referred to. The strippingplunger 62 also includes a cylindrically-contoured shank 63 reciprocating in the recess 59 and extending outwardly from the head 6! in eccentric relationship thereto. The stripping-plunger 82 also includes a relatively-small-diametered stem 64 rigid with and extending outwardly from the shank 63 through the passage Si) in the cutterholder 25. As shown, the outer end of the stem 64 which projects beyond the left face of the stationary cutter-holder 25, is provided with one or more adjustable stop-nuts 65 which serve to limit the movement of the plunger 62 in a direction from left to right. Encircling the stem 64 and thrusting at its respective opposite ends against the shank 63 and the end wall of the recess 59, is a helical spring 66 which exerts a constant effort to move the stripping-plunger 62 from left to right.

Immediately below the outer tip of the stripping-plunger G2 and below the clearancenotches 50 and 5| respectively formed in the outer-cutter l1 and the cutter-holder 33, is a discharge-passage 61 extending vertically through the base-plate 26 and designed and adapted to have successive rings like 22 pass downwardly therethrough as the same are cut off from a tube such as 2|.

The downward or cutting-stroke of the movable cutter-holder 33 may be effected in any approved manner but for purposes of illustration of one form of the application of the necessary power, there is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the ram 68 which may form a feature of a power press and which is adapted to impinge against the upper surface of the movable cutter-holder 33.

To make clear the operation of the mechanism shown in the accompanying drawings and above described, let it be assumed that the parts occupy the positions in which they are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in which it will be noted that the end of the tube 2| is abutted against the adjacent end of the gauge-sleeve 45. It is also to be noted that the movable inner-cutter H3 is at the limit of its movement to the left and therefore its cutting-edge 43 is in transverse alignment with the respective cutting-edges of the stationary inner-cutter l6, stationary outer-cutter l5 and movable outer-cutter ll.

If now, the ram 68 is caused to descend, it will force the movable cutter-holder 33 and the parts carried thereby downwardly from the positions in which they are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, into the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 3. The movement referred to will cause the cutting-edge 48 of the movable outer-cutter ll to coact with the cutting-edge 23 of the stationary inner-cutter 16 to thereby sever the upper half of the tube 2!, indicated by the bracket 69 in Fig. 12. Simultaneously also and during the severing action just referred to, the substantially semicircular transverse cuttingedge 43 of the movable inner-cutter 18 will coact with the substantially-semicircular transverse cutting-edge I9 of the stationary outer-cutter [5 to sever the lower half of the tube 2|, indicated by the bracket in Fig, 12.

The severing just above referred to will result in the creation of a ring'such as 22, and the continued downward movement of the parts will transport the said ring and the other parts referred to downwardly into the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 3. It is here to be noted that immediately following the completion of the severance of the ring 22 from the tube 2|, the movable inner-cutter I8 is axially retired from left to right by the cutter-retiring spring 41, This movement is made possible by the sliding of the cam-head 42 of the said cutter l8 down the incline 40 and onto the retirement-dwell 39 of the cam-plate 37.

In reaching the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3, the severed ring 22 will have engaged with the sloping inner face of the strippingplunger 62 and will have forced the same to retire to the left against the tension of its spring 66. When, however, the ring 22 reaches a position in axial alignment with the head 6! of the stripping-plunger 62, the said stripping-plunger will move to the right under the urge of its spring 66 and enter the outer end of its head GI. into the interior of the ring 22, as is shown in Fig. 3. The ram 68 will now be caused to retire upwardly, thereby permitting the return-spring 55 to assert itself and act through the associated parts to return the movable cutter-holder 33 and the parts carried thereby back into the positions in which they are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. During this upward travel of the movable cutter-holder 33 and associated parts, the just-severed ring 22 will be restrained against upward movement by the stripping-plunger 62, and when the parts of the mechanism ultimately reach the positions in which they are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the previously-restrained ring 22 will be free to drop off of the head 6| of the stripping-plunger 62 and pass downwardly through the dischargepassage 6'! in the base-plate 25 and thence into a suitable receptacle.

As the parts move from the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 3 back to the positions in which they are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the camhead 42 of the movable inner-cutter I8 will ride up the slope 40 and onto the advance-dwell 38 of the cam-plate 37, thereby moving the cutter l8 axially to the left and back into its cutting position.

Following the restoration of the parts to the positions in which they are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the tube 2! may be again advanced until its fresh-cut end is again seated against the adjacent end of the tubular gauge-sleeve 45, preparatory to another cycle of operation of the mechanism. This feeding of the tube 2| may be effected in any suitable manner by advancing the tube-feeding chain 32 to the right, thereby causing the tube-feeding head 29 to thrust against the outer end of the tube 2 I.

By means of the present invention, a tube of copper or other material may be severed into desired lengths without the creation of appreciable chips or other waste material, and with but a minimum, if any, distortion of the tube.

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claim are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

A tube-cutting mechanism, including in combination: a first cutter-holder; a first outer-cutter having a transverse cutting-edge at its inner end substantially conforming in size and. shape to the outer perimeter of a first half of a tube to be cut and carried by the said first cutter-holder; a first inner-cutter located within the said first outer-cutter and having a transverse cuttingedge located at its inner end in substantial transverse alignment with the cutting-edge of the said first outer-cutter and ubstantially conforming in size and shape to the interior perimeter of the second half of the tube to be out; a second cutter-holder movable in a direction transverse to the axes of the said first outer-cutter and the said first inner-cutter; a second outer-cutter carried by the said second cutter-holder in end-to-end relationship with the said first outer-cutter and having a transverse cutting-edge in substantial transverse alignment with the respective cutting-- edges of the before-mentioned cutters and substantially conforming in size and shape to the exterior perimeter of the second half of the tube to be out; a second inner-cutter disposed within the said second outer-cutter in end-to-end relationship with respect to the said first inner-cutter and having a transverse cutting-edge at its inner end located in substantial transverse alignment with the inner ends of the before-mentioned cutters and substantially conforming in size and shape to the inner perimeter of the first half of the tube to be cut, the said second inner-cutter being axially movable toward and away from the said first inner-cutter; the said second outer-cutter being cut away or relieved at its inner end opposite its transverse cutting-edge to provide a clearance-passage fOr the substantial radial discharge of a severed portion of the tube; a springpressed stripping-member secured to the said first cutter-holder and located outwardly of and in line with the clearance-passage in the said second outer-cutter; means for moving the said second cutter-holder and the second outer-cutter and inner cutter carried thereby in a direction transverse to the axis of the tube to be out to thereby transversely sever the tube and transport the severed section thereof into position for engagement with the said stripping-member; and means for Withdrawing the said axially-movable inner-cutter out of the portion of the tube Within which it is normally located and after the completion of the tube-severing movement of the said second cutter-holder.

ANTHONY F. 01138. 

